Man who duped Army gets 6 months in prison

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September 17, 2010 11:20:24 AM PDT

DALLAS, TX --

A Texas man who earlier this year tricked the Army into allowing him to join the reserves as a noncommissioned officer has been sentenced to six months in prison and a bad conduct discharge. A spokeswoman at Fort Rucker in Alabama says Jesse Bernard Johnston III received the punishment from a military judge July 26 after pleading guilty to seven counts of wrongdoing.

The charges stemmed from a scheme in which he used falsified discharge papers to dupe the Army into thinking he was a decorated ex-Marine.

The deception allowed the 26-year-old Johnston to join a reserve unit at the Fort Worth Naval Air Station as a sergeant without going through basic training. It was uncovered while he was going through advanced aviation training at Fort Rucker.